Event

Chuckanut Radio Hour with Robert Spector

The Chuckanut Radio Hour is Village Books' monthly radio variety show which is recorded live and features live music, the poetry corner, author interviews, and an episode of "The Bellingham Bean." Guest authors have included David Guterson, Sherman Alexie, Elizabeth George, Susan Vreeland, Garrison Keillor, Ivan Doig, JA Jance, and Stephanie Kallos. In September we're excited to welcome Robert Spector. We ask that everyone be seated by 6:45pm for the 7:00pm recording.

Co-sponsored by the Leopold Residence

Business journalist Robert Spector grew up working in his familys butcher shop in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where he learned invaluable lessons about the independent retail businessand about life. Mom & pop stores have always brought people together, fostering a sense of neighborhood identity and camaraderie, and are the glue that connects people in big cities and small towns alike. Long fascinated by the direct connection people feel as merchants and customers when they do business in neighborhood shops, and responding to the growing buy local movement across the country, Spector sets out to discover the state, and the state of mind, of independent retailing in America. From a specialty soda pop shop in Los Angeles to a florist shop in Dayton, Ohio, from a bakery in Chicago to a bookstore in Bellingham, Washington, mom & pop store owners shared their stories with him, revealing the spirit and tenacity of the small business owner, dealing with frustration and defeat as well as triumph and success. Spector also interweaves the history of independent retailing. The Mom & Pop Store reflects the story of this country, for it embraces and cross-references every ethnic group and virtually every element of our society.

Robert Spector is author of The Nordstrom Way, The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence, Amazon.Com: Get Big Fast, and Category Killers. He has appeared on CNN, CNBC, ABC, Fox News, PBS, Bloomberg Business, NPRs Marketplace Report, and numerous other radio shows, and has written on business for the Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

Discussion

Location

Crystal Ballroom at the Leopold
1224 Cornwall Avenue
Bellingham, WA 98225
United States